Golf-practicing device



June 30, 1925.

D. B. EDMONSTON GOLF PRACTICING DEVICE Filed Nov. 6', 1924 Patented June30, 1925.

DAVID B. EDMONSTON, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUIVII'BLLGOLF-PRACTICING DEVICE.

Application filed November 6, i924. Serial No. 748,139.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAVID B. EDMONSTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have inventedcertain new and useful Inn provements in Golf-Practicing Devices, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for practicing golf indoors andparticularly the strokes known as putting, whereby facility and skillmay be acquired in putting strokes, and the device may be used eitherindividually or competitively byseveral persons.

One of the main objectsof the invention is to provide a device whichmaybe used indoors and which will simulate as closely as possible theconditions found on putting greens. I am aware that devices have beenproposed for practicing putting indoors. Some of these involve aninclined'plane up which the ball must roll to drop in the hole. Othersuse various forms of triggers or trapping devices. These are defectiveor objectionable because of the increased power or drive required tomove the ball up the plane or beyond the triggers; in other words, astroke will not be true with respectto the power-required. They are alsoopen to objection on account of cost or otherwise.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which may beapplied to the edge of a rug or the like, the base-of the device havingsubstantially the same thickness as the rug, whereby the course orsurface on which the ball rolls will be substantially level, withoutelevations or' obstructions to obstruct or deflect the travel of theball. v

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved device ofthe kind' stated in which the ball, having once entered the hole, willbe retained therein, in a manner similar to aliole in the ground, exceptin the case of such hard stroke that the ball would jump the hole underoutdoor conditions, in. which event the present device enables it torebound out of the hole. This object is elfected by the use of aretaining device which is so located and positioned that the ball willbe stopped or caught thereby and be held in the hole, so that it willnot overrun the same or rebound out of the hole, except under theabnormalcondition referred to.

A further object of the invention is to as thesurface of the rug.

provide a device which will deflect or retain the ball in the hole aftermarginal shots, that is, shots in which the ball travels to one ofthelateral edges of the hole, with respect to its line of travel and, withwhich,

under ground conditions, the ball would I drop into the hole, but withwhich, in the I use of some of such indoor devices, the tend" ency is todeflect the ball away from the hole, or prevent it fromdropping-therein.In short, the purpose of the device is to produce a result, withrespect-to'the fall of the ball in the hole, the same as that foundunder outdoor conditions;

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which willstopballs which miss the hole, and prevent the same from rolling around theroom, underarticles of furniture or the like. I V A further object ofthe invention is; to provide means for retaining the device in positionat the edge of 'a rug, mat or carpet to which it may be applied. i r

iVith these and other ob 'ects in View one form of the invention ishereinaftende-. scribed and is illustrated in the accompany ing drawingsin which Fig. 1 is a perspective View of the device. Fig. 2 is asectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 illustrating a ball caught bythe retainer. Fig. 3 is a has a base board 7, of substantially.thesamethickness as the rug, whereby its top "surface willbe atsubstantially'the same level This-board or base may be of any suitablematerial and desired dimensions. I have found between two and three feetaconvenient length and about seven inches a convenient width. Thematerial may conveniently be that known as compressed paper or wallboard, acomposition having qualities which are quite suitable for theintended purpose. The base has a circular hole'8 which may be made ofstandard size of holes in putting greens, said hole being preferablylocated at the middle of the board. It may be set somewhat closer to thefront edge of the board than is shown in the drawing. At itsrear edge,the base has a back strip'9 fixed there- V stripsmaybean inchor't'wohigh. and may be made of wood', and they form' a'three- V sidedenclosure which Will retain wild'ballsand preventrthemj rolling aboutthe room. -'.To the "back strip 9 is fixeda retainer or .holding deviceindicated at 11. This: may

convenientlyconsist of a piece of composition board of little orno elastc1ty,be1ng I quite stiff or hard in fact, and it may be fixed to theback-strip by being iset'in a notch 12 in the top of the strip. Tl1ec0n'structionland location of this retainer 1s of considerable ii'nportancei It is set on the back stripat a slightinclin'ation, upwardly andforwardly, asshown in Fig. 2, and its front edge projects somewhat overthe-hole 8,,sufliciently farlthataball'will engage said edge before" itwould engage the rear edge of'the hole. Said front" edge is curved, asindicated 13,011 an areconcentric with that of the hole whereby [twoh'orns or 'points 14 are formed These horns or points are blunt, and theedge 1315 located in such vertical position that a standard golfb'a'lhas indicated will just enter or' engage the said edge and Will bepinched andheldfthereby when driven with "sufficient force to strike theretainer. As stated, the

material isfdead -or Without elasticity suf-I ficient to 1 cause arebounding action suflt ci-ent' to cause theballit'o leave the hole- 7undera normal "stroke", but when the stroke 'is'abnorma'lly hard, theelasticityr of the ball ivill'causeit to rebou'ndout ofthe hole. 'Inother Words, if the stroke is such that under "outdoor conditions theball would drop in the h0le, the retainer will act asst'at'ed, and

remain in thehole, but if the stroke is so hard-that" under outdoorconditions the ball "wouldjuinp or travel over'the hole,;in'such casetlieball, instead of dropping into the hole to be engagedby the edge ofthe retainer will strike the said edge a sufficient *distance" below thetop of the ball to cause arebound'ing action, which will throw the ballback out of the hole. Accordingly,

the device has-an action 'very nearly the same; u'ith'respect to thefinal result, as that produced under outdoo'r conditions Where, if'theball hugs the green, it Will fall int-o thehole, but' 'i f hitsuflicient ly hard "will travel clear over the hole, the intent 'of'thepresenf invention being to stop and hold the ballsof 'the firstkind, but permit a rebound'of the balls of the second kind. 7 The horns14 are blunted so that they will not 'becoine inashedi inib'y repeatedcontact of a ballngainstrthesame. The edge 13 is1curveds0 that it. Willacco 'ninodate balls driven from various; angles. The horns 141m alsolocated iii-such position that they correspond-to the Vertical axis orthe" center line (if a ball Which may enter the rim of the cup at eithersidefi That is, assuming a ball traveling across the i Will roll towardthe hole.

'It may thus be used fonindivid rim of'the holejat oaasiae; ifitsvertical axial line is Within therim' of thecup will engagethe hornandgbe deflected 0r ,retained in-theiholeywhereas ifits vertical axis isoutside a perpendicular dropped froni theho1m 14 it will rim the holeand be deflected outside. This corresponds to 0 the hole,

H the retainer, and the slight inclination of the latter are suclra's tojustallbuv a ball to bepi'nched byt'he retainer, by reason of -1 f thec'u'rvatuie of f top surface, thus n g ji' from. leav1ng, the hole underan o nary stroke.

With thensejo'f at device, af war a found' that if the ball driven xvithjust suflici'ent force itv'v'ill drop into andj sta'y in Q? Y the hole.Ifislightlyexcessive force is used,

a ball that 'hit's t-heholeiwill engageth'e edge ,of'the retainer andwil l'b'e stopped-and held in the hole.;-A retainer'niade of comparetivelyrigid inelastic material; such as: coin-s position, will beffoundsuperior to t-lieause of Wood or thelilie" fOr thisIp-urpOs'e, "butoba1; may 4 be varied as i found 1 viously the inateri suitable.

. For holdingthe deviceinpositionat the y edge of a'rugor ni'at,.I'provide alpair of at strips '16" fastened to the edge of the board 7adjacent the rug and; '[rovided 'at their} 4 fre 'nds'with pins17"hen-the device is applied-to theedge- (if a rug the strips are placedunder said edge and, the rug pressed tach'ing devices shown as; flexiblemetal down upon the pins, beingthereby hooked. theretoand hel'd inposition against acci-I dental displacemetf And the sur'face of the rugand 't-ha ltfof the base 7 Willbe' atsubstantia1ly..the same level" sothat the ball will not bounceor-jump"but will roll across the joint.

In using the device it" islapplied zto the edge of a rug as stated: Thenthe: ball is placed at a suitable or desired distance from the; deviceandupon being" hit by I a putter be stoppedand'eaught by-theback andside strips. If it hits the, hole, it' will beheld therein to completethe 'stroke,' 'e

referred to. f s nah-practice cases of excessive force as above or incompetition {players miay play in succe'ss on, and keep a score as 1nthe; actual gamm fitmissesni-t will I 1251 Being c'onjstrueted. of inexpeiisive materials, the device can cheaply 1nanu-' I factured and-Willgivea near approach to the actual playing conditions of the regularoutdoor game. The ballcan be removed from the device by a mere tap bythe blade of the putter, so it is unnecessary to stoop and pick the ballout, as in some other devices, Which becomes very tiresome onrepetition. Also, several balls may be holed in succession, Withoutremoving the preceding balls. This saves time and travel back and forth.

The particular description of the form shown, and the materials used, isnot to be regarded as a limitation thereto, but various changes ormodifications may be made Within the scope of the following claims.

I claim: I

1. In a device of the kind described, a base board having a holetherein, and a fixed retainer projecting over the hole at a properheight to frictionally engage the top of a ball entering the hole.

2. In a device of the kind described, a base board having a holetherein, and a rigid retainer projecting above the board in position toengage a ball in the hole, the front edge of the retainer having theform of a forwardly presented concave curve.

A device as set forth in claim 2, said curve being concentric to thecurvature of the rim of the hole.

4. A device as set forth in claim 2, the points at the ends of saidcurved edge being located Within the vertical plane of the rim of thehole.

5. A device as set forth in claim 2, the points at the ends of saidcurved edge each being in position substantially in line with thevertical axis of a ball entering the extreme side edge of the hole.

6. A device of the kind described, comprising a base board having a holetherein and adapted to be applied to tlieedge ofa rug or the like, thethickness of the board being substantially equal to that of therug, andmeans to fasten the edge of the board to the edge of the rug.

7. A device as set forthin claim 6, said board being provided with aback stop strip atthe rear edge thereof.

8. A device as set forth in claim 6, the rear and side edges of theboard having stop strips for the purpose described! 9.. In a device ofthe kind described, a base board having a hole therein, a back strip atthe rear edge of the board, and a retainer projecting forwardly fromsaid back strip with its front edge over the hole at a proper heighttoengage a ball thereby.

10. A device as set forth in claim 9, said retainer being inclinedslightly upwardly and forwardly from the back strip.

11; A device as set forth in claim 9, said retainer being inclinedupwardly and for Wardly from the back strip and having a concave frontedge located over the hole at a proper height to engage thereby a ballin the hole. 1

In testimony whereof, I affix my signm ture in presence of a Witness.

DAVID B. EDMONSTON. fitness:

G'no. TEW'. i

